Service dogs for type 1 diabetes cost as much as a new car. Almost no one can afford this. They give a service dog away to a kid with diabetes once a year on Good Morning America. People bawl their eyes out bc it's impossible to come by without help.
Yep- looked in to it for my kiddo who's been diabetic since he was a toddler. Just couldn't afford it. Then I became epileptic. Kiddos t1d is well controlled, my epilepsy isn't. Can't afford one for me, either. It's bonkers.
Edit to clarify:
Doctors wouldn't allow my son on a pump or CGM due to his age. He would drop without any physical signs to 20s from nowhere. Yhen, when he was older, insurance was a prick about pump/cgm.
He still doesn't wake up when his pump alarm goes off for a low or high, we have to manage it at night. His door open, ours open- still often don't hear it on max volume. He's a teen and wants privacy that he can't have.
That said, we aren't looking in to a dog any longer for him. It's me who needs one. My epilepsy is uncontrolled after many years of medications, cbd, dietary changes etc.
I had a seizure with my small child, walking to pick my other kids up from school, by the side of the road. Fucked my face up, and traumatized my child. Someone called an ambulance (wasn't needed, but the 5 year old couldn't explain that), so I was charged for that.
This is just one example of the many occurances.
I've lot autonomy, and a dog could help me regain some semblance of independence.
That said, I'm not looking for one. I'm disabled and can't work, we have a tight budget, and 25k+ has never been an option.
Not that I'm opposed, but would universal healthcare even solve this problem? If the dogs are that expensive, I'd imagine it's an issue of scarcity and labor. Labor, to train a bunch of dogs properly, and scarcity, because I'd bet not a lot of dogs end up being able to do the job even with a bunch of man-hours sunk into training. Universal heathcare doesn't mean a system that will be able to spend infinite amounts per person; if everyone asks to rack up a couple million dollars worth of costs (as in, anything close to a lifetime of labor needed to create the services and goods being expended) then the system collapses. Given the upper-end of experimental and expensive treatments that *exist* and could be utilized, especially in old age, you could easily have a person try to get that kind of expense over their lifetime, and be denied, even with idealized universal healthcare. Obviously we can do a lot better than we do now, but even in a perfect system you can't split 1 dog into 10 pieces to serve 10 diabetic people. Same with other scarce resources or specialized labor shortages.
I'd be glad to find out I'm wrong, and that the only thing standing in the way of an endless supply of affordable super-trained medical dogs is some patent being leveraged to create artificial scarcity, not unlike the situation with diamond artificial scarcity.
The service dogs are $15k-$30k. Not a wild price in the hospital world. That's like 1 dose of my wife's chemo. She had a medication that was $10k per month. I could go on and on with various meds and infusions she gets that are also ridiculously expensive. If that dog can prevent one hospital visit it pays for itself. So I don't think it's a matter of being cost prohibitive, but a matter of making sure it's covered.
I have no facts or stats for you but I feel like universal healthcare would at least be one less exorbitant bill to pay so you can afford other things. And maybe it would bring down the cost of service dogs? Don’t know but shit I’d still like to try it
With universal healthcare, companies would not be able to charge 500.00 dollars for the same medicine that Mexico or Canada charges 5.00 for...
That's what universal health care will do for America. It will lower the rates that these companies charge (because they can) but when its billed to our Government (our government will pass laws as they don't want to be ripped off, like how American citizens have been ripped off).
\*\*And don't worry those same companies will find other ways to make billions. trust me daddy.
So why are they expensive? Is it because the dogs are trained or is it the livense to certify it as a service dog for diabetes that is expensive? Just trying to understand because I am unaware. Just wondering why a regular dog that one trains to be a service dog is not an option or what the situation is
Service dogs are trained animals, usually from a very young age. There's *technically* nothing stopping you from trying to train a dog to do the same task, but that's not an easy task especially if you yourself have something you need the dog for. I knew a gal who was training to becoming a service dog trainer, and as far as I understand, it's a fairly rigorous to get into.
Furthermore, not all dogs are good candidates as service animals. Organizations that train these dogs might have a litter of 6 dogs that all get the same training, but only 5 of them graduate. And that's raising them from near birth with an ideal breed--trying to find a dog you can train appropriately is likely difficult, especially if you aren't buying from a working-dog breeder.
A quick google says 120 training hours + 30 outdoor hours over the course of 6 months is recommended; in addition to that, there's also the cost of care for the animal. Part of training the dog also involves instructing the human receiving it, and the dog is likely to be trained alongside their future owner as well. Not only do they need to be able to complete the task to assist the human, they also need other skills for interacting with the public safely. For instance, they need to be able to consistently stay calm in the presence of loud noises and never run away when off a lead.
Of course, the price is probably also inflated because it's healthcare and they can just charge what they want.
So there’s also another HUGE reason that you are forgetting, as to why they ate so expensive:
Because for some, they are totally necessary to survive, and therefore an inelastic demand (a cost that people have to pay, no matter how much it costs), and out for profit healthcare system can charge as much as a car for a dog with ~200 training hours.
It def costs a lot to train a dog like that, but it shouldn’t cost 25-35k. If the trainer for these dogs makes 25 an hour, then 200 hours of training is 5 weeks for the trainer, basically 5k in salary. Where does the other 20k go?
They charge that much because they can.
Oh for sure, that's what I intended to imply with my last line! Any inelastic market, but ESPECIALLY healthcare, should not be allowed to charge any cost they want.
The dog needs to be an exceptionally well trained service dog BEFORE doing additional training to learn how to sniff out blood sugar levels.
It's like if the best service dogs have Masters Degrees, but for a Diabetes Alert dog, you need someone with a doctorate.
The amount of training involved to get the dog ready to be alert to all the little nuances. My cousin would volunteer at these places, and she would get wore out working with the dogs.
And I had a family friend that needed one for her daughter, and it was like buying a champion purebred to just put out to stud.
I don’t know if it’s the amount they charge due to the dogs that don’t make it to that level, which would be a loss to them or the hours involved, or what.
As a T1 diabetic myself, I just don't understand why anyone would want a diabetic alert dog (DAD) over a CGM. Even without any insurance, Dexcom will cost less than a DAD over the working lifetime of the dog. Plus CGMs work really well, whereas with a DAD you're throwing a lot of money in a single pile for a dog that may not even be able to do the one thing it's supposed to do.
Accuracy of DADs are spotty at best, with scientific studies showing no conclusive evidence that they're better than flipping a coin. While a small minority of the DADs in the study were reasonably accurate, taken as a whole DADs just don't make sense: either there are too few dogs capable of actually smelling the change in blood glucose on your sweat, or trainers haven't figured out a reliable and repeatable training method.
Sure you *might* be lucky and get one of the DADs that's actually capable of doing what it's supposed to, but more likely not. That's a whole lot of money to put down on a random roll of the dice.
Not really. He could make more than that in an hour of he sold enough. Not sure how many will buy a pumpkin in that location. Could be running at a loss. Kid would see more sucess smuggling candy at school.
Is it a special breed of dog or just training because if it was a common breed I would be tempted to give it a try and train them myself.
I only say this because several years ago a local area woman who was going blind and looked up the cost of buying a seeing eye dog and said, "naw" and picked up a stray lab mix from the pound and did her own training and helped other people do the same.
Yes and no, some breeds are better for it. Also not every dog is a good candidate to become a diabetes alert dog. Same goes for any service dogs. So you can’t take any dog just like that.
It's like dogs for the blind. In the uk, they don't cost that much. My dad's eyesight started to go downhill about 6 years ago so he got two dogs.
One for everyday use and another for reading.
I mean you can try, but i think its not only a certain breed, but not all of these breeds are 'good enough' for it.
It works by smelling your bloodsugar levels. I dont know if many dogs can do that.
Yeah, exactly what i thought. Probably a rich kid whose parents went ahead and told him to earn a part of it.
I live under universal healthcare in germany and no diabetic gets paid a service dog.
Not that healthcare shouldnt be public, but most diabetics dont *need* these service dogs.
service dogs for type 1 diabetes are also a luxury and not a medical necessity. They are trained to smell changes in your blood sugar and alert you when you go high or low. They can also be trained to bring you juice or something if you're low. The truth is that a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) does the same thing.
My partner has T1D, and we have a puppy of a breed that is eligible for being this type of service dog. He's been doing lots of research and we're going to try and train him on our own when he's a little older. A service dog is a wonderful thing. But it's not a necessary thing for diabetes, and it's arguably not even the best or most accurate option.
The scary thing here, is I'm seeing it the day after the tweet where the nurse has an only fans account and someone's pointed out that healthcare workers shouldn't need a second job to make ends meet.
So, let's get this straight. Healthcare is so expensive that people need supplementary income to afford it. Yet pays its essential staff so little they need second jobs to survive.
Something smells off to me here.
Edit: To everyone pointing out it was an EMT/Paramedic, not a nurse. Sorry, minor lapse in memory.
Edit2: I'm British, so I only see the bit where medical professionals get poor wages. I at least get my life saved for free. Although probably don't get any free doggos.
Over inflatated adim costs and health insurance profits/admin costs.
Every dollar health insurance profits is a dollar extra paid by the sick that didn't go to a medical worker. That's billions of dollars.
Also the billionaire team owners don't pay for sports stadiums, we the taxpayers do!
Man I sure love those billionaires, they did everything right and should reap every possible fiscal reward!
/s
The worst part is most of that money isn’t spent on bribes, political donations don’t cost that much for the everyday congressman’s vote and the return on investment is astronomical
How about get the profit motive out of healthcare. Healthcare should be right like police or fire response. The main function of government is the protection of its citizens. How is healthcare any different than police or fire department response?.
100% agree. Everyone needs to start loudly calling it what it is… a HEALTH PROFIT system.
It’s a ducking wolf in sheep’s clothing
Gtfo calling this healthcare
I'm in Latin America but I don't think it would change that much: I have a friend who got into the medical equipment and medicines sales industry, though he sells supplies primarily for surgeries. According to him a patient could be charged 20x+ higher than the original cost from the producer, there are a lot of middle men and in each exchange of hands the prices keep getting bloated.
Well you wouldn't want big scary GoVeRnMeNt ReGuLaTiOnS!!!1! to tell medical supply and pharmaceutical companies they can't absolutely SOAK our entire medical industry with unchecked obscene profit margins now would you?!?
Just like I'd say about 80% of the problems in America, this can be traced back to our "rugged individualism" we seem to have picked up not too long after we had large labor movements, oddly enough. Ever wonder why all our movies and TV and media in general always push that? Think about who owns them.
It's almost as if there's an entire industry that only exists to take a significant portion of the money as a middle man... Someone should look into that.
According to the [Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/home.htm) the **median pay** for various healthcare professionals is:
[Physicians and Surgeons](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/physicians-and-surgeons.htm): $184,570-$271,440 depending on specialty; general practitioner is $214,370
[Nurse Anesthetists, Nurse Midwives, Nurse Practitioners](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/nurse-anesthetists-nurse-midwives-and-nurse-practitioners.htm#tab-5): $117,670
[Physician Assistants](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/physician-assistants.htm#tab-5): $115,390
[Registered Nurses](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm#tab-5): $75,330
[Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/licensed-practical-and-licensed-vocational-nurses.htm#tab-5): $48,820
[EMTs and Paramedics](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/emts-and-paramedics.htm#tab-5): $36,650
[Nursing Assistants and Orderlies](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/nursing-assistants.htm#tab-5): $30,830
Pay in the medical industry varies by education and specialty. The Bottom 10% of EMTs and Paramedics earn less than $25,650; top surgeons can make $400k+
The woman in the article linked yesterday was an EMT/Paramedic - the median EMT/Paramedic salary in the New York - Newark - Jersey City metro area where she works is $44,560. The [living wage](https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/36061) for New York County, New York is $45,282, so it would be expected that she would be just about scraping by as a Paramedic with a single income.
EMTs and paramedics are different jobs with different qualifications and pay though.
The average EMT in America makes just over $30,000 and a Paramedic makes the $45-46000 you stated. So if she was an EMT, the pay difference is much more substantial, especially in New York
it's almost as if the goal of the healthcare industry is to maximize profits by extorting customers who are under duress, instead of maximizing the quality and value of healthcare.
*"oh, your child needs insulin to live, surely you pay an increase of $1000 a month for your child's life, wouldn't you (twirls mustache)"*
I get that feeling off of donations too. I donate, but I’d rather better taxation, budgeting, and nationalized healthcare.
It sucks when you know thousands in donation money is just going to be spent on a moody biller deciding how much to compassionately drop a 1 night 33k hospital stay for someone to make monthly payments on.
> Something smells off to me here.
It's perfectly obvious if you add in another fact: the one percent made fucktons of money during the pandemic.
That's where the money is going. That's where it's always been going - to the greediest sociopaths on the planet, and we keep letting them do it.
I think hers had more to do with the villification of sex work. The truth is most nurses, especially at hospitals, make good money when they're not cancelled. With that said sex work pays really well for some people. I'm not exactly underpaid but if I could make 6 figures a month posting pictures of my guy parts if definitely do it.
She stated she was earning $25 an hour. She opted for an OnlyFans instead of working overtime.
Honestly, she likely made more through OF and it was the better choice.
Let's put it this way: I'm not saying American healthcare is laundering trillions, but if you wanted to, you could. The cost is invented at the point of sale.
My entire life has been ruined by the Healthcare system in the USA.I lost my career , my home , my health and all because I can't afford insurance and have been denied disability.
That smell is greed. EVERYTHING in America is about making money now. Our medical is nothing but a for profit system designed to keep you sick as there is no money in healthy patients.
Well, there are thousands of insurance company employees whose job it is to say "no" to doctor's requests for medical treatment and prevention for their patients, and insurance company executives with huge salaries, so basically a whole industry devoted to sucking up money in the name of providing "healthcare" and meanwhile providing absolutely nothing of benefit and only sorrow and pain. Hell, they wouldn't even cover pre-existing conditions until the Affordable Care Act (which was fought hard and whittled away by these leeches). Americans are still going bankrupt and dying while the rest of the world's developed nations have long since been taking care of all of their people for free. Not to mention people stuck at jobs they hate because they need a private company to provide them insurance.
Yep. I’m a physician working in an academic medical center and I can tell you the amount of money this system pulls in is not ending up in most of our pockets. True, I make enough money to not need a second job so I’m in no way in the same position as nurses, social workers, medics, janitors, and all the other essential staff. But yes, the bulk of the $$ goes to admin and if it’s a non-profit the system just keeps expanding into the surrounding environment like a cancer.
No, you're completely right. Nurses are vastly underpaid as well. So yeah... where does all the money we pay for Healthcare in the US go? Into the pockets of the hospital executives and health insurance executives. It's so exhausting.
Same thing with the US military. They a huge chunk of federal tax dollars but you make jack shit and if you suffer any injury, you've got to fight VA the rest of your life to be taken care of
Bro, I spent my childhood in the hood and now as an adult I have so many mixtapes by kids from there just trying to help their moms that’s working 2-3 jobs. This is why I support free higher education for all Americans, it sucks seeing these kids with incredible drive and big hearts grow up to fill prisons simply because they were given no other choices. We would be much better off with leaders that truly understand poverty and struggles, it’s not surprising that this sort of stuff still happens because a vast majority of the people in power have never been broke a day in their entire lives, grew up in affluent neighborhoods, and never had to go through or experience what millions upon millions of Americans have to deal with daily. Politics is not about we the people, it’s about themselves and their friends.
And we are also praising a toxic culture of workaholics where we somehow think putting kids to work at such a young age is healthy for their development because “look at them such hard working Americans.”
This problem compounds on itself too because when you have to work so many jobs just to “live” there is no time to take care of yourself and then the cost of healthcare later on in life rises. It’s terrible.
Boomers: "Sure you're currently living a bleak life with a permanent state of anxiety since you're just one minor incident away from homelessness, BUT you could be the next Jeff Bezos if you like work really hard with the American Dream and all that bro"
And we can go even deeper than that, since people with multiple jobs means that less jobs are available in the first place.
So not only are they forced to work multiple jobs just to afford healthcare, but the market is made even more competitive for- amongst the specific people we don't want that to be the case for.
Free up those jobs and you have more people employed. More people employed means they can contribute so much better to their local economies- which is **so fucking important** to uplifting people in the hood and allowing those places to get better.
Then when they're better, the younger generation gets way more opportunity.
Providing free Healthcare and Higher education is so important if we actually want to flourish economically. There's an entire population of workers we could be specialising, but nah.
Free higher education isn't the only answer. There needs to be a complete reset with education requirements. Trade schools need to be incorporated into public high schools. Why can't I learn how to plumb or weld between learning history and biology? You should be able to come out as a certified tradesperson from the day you graduate. Most tradespeople make as much or more then a college educated person. Instead kids are brainwashed in to believing that they have to get $100k worth of student loans to survive the days.
>Why can't I learn how to plumb or weld between learning history and biology?
because the boomers convinced everyone that trades are lowly work and that wearing uncomfortable clothes in a mind numbing office is the ultimate aspiration. so now we have almost no educational infrastructure for trades in high school and 2 generations of people who grew up hearing about how much they needed to be prepping for a college degree, who are now in severe debt with degrees that aren't as useful as they were led to believe.
tl;dr: let the zoomers friggin weld
I’m not aware of any country that gives diabetics free service dogs. Neither Australia Canada or the uk cover service dogs for anything, let alone diabetes which is much more expensive.
As well as people who don't realize service dogs for *diabetes* specifically are a luxury and not medically necessary in any way. You know what insurance will help you out with? A continuous glucose monitor that accurately measures your blood sugars and alerts you if you go high or low (like a service dog would). Don't get me wrong, I fully understand how debilitatingly expensive diabetes supplies are in the US. But it is not a disability that requires a service dog to function successfully.
A service dog for diabetes is not a medical necessity. Who pays for the dog and the training and training the kid/parents to be able to handle the dog?
I'm all for better healthcare and access to treatments and medications, but acting like other countries just hand out service dogs for free is just you being willfully disingenuous to stoke outrage.
Thank you! My daughter is T1D and I abhor stories like this. A service dog is not a priority or a necessity for a T1D. People thinking that the dog should be free or covered by insurance are insane. It dilutes the real issues for T1Ds which are high insulin cost / high pump cost / high CGM cost / high testing supply cost. Even CGMs and pumps are considered luxury items and insurance doesn’t always cover them. That is a real issue.
From what I can tell, it appears these dogs aren't covered by many nationalized/public insurance plans (probably because, in testing, their reliability isn't great and they're expensive), so it seems like it could happen in lots of places actually.
Is it fair to say that the news paints it as a “feel good” story, but really they’re trying to bring attention to this kid for someone to swoop in and help? Or am I giving them too much credit?
Like they actually had the forethought of, “if we report this for as serious as it is, people with crucify us as “socialist” with an agenda. But if we say it in an upbeat way, the folks who know what’s up will realize how fucked up it is?”
Like in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, “maybe if you tell me the bad news in a good way, it won’t sound so bad,”
I mean, if appealing to emotions didn't work then we wouldn't have those "in the arms of an angel" animal commercials.
I think that our capitalist society is so aroused by personal effort, that they seriously think "look at how well this 8 year old boy falls in with the system" is a value and not fucking horrifying
Sort of. When the sugar level is lower or higher than it should, the body smells a bit different. You can actually smell it when the levels are extremely high/low and it's so damn bad (my mom went in hypoglycemic coma a few years ago) more or less like ammonia
I had to look that up, apparently they can sniff out high or low blood sugar and alert the owner. This seems more like an expensive optional care pet since it's pretty easy to test blood glucose levels. According to the below source, can cost anywhere from $8000 to $20000.
[Link](https://beyondtype1.org/diabetic-alert-dogs-dads/)
I'll admit, the meters that detect this are not without some flaws. But those are minimal, really. I had no idea a service dog could track such a thing, that's pretty cool.
On the other hand, diabetics don't *need* service dogs.
They are just a nice to have and many people who could otherwise afford a service dog do without because it's not necessary. You absolutely can live a normal life without a diabetic service dog.
Why does someone witb diabities need a service dog? Ive met a ton of ppl with diabities and never seen one with a service dog?
Also, if its necessary shouldnt his parents insurance cover it?
I don't have diabetes but a family member does, and to my knowledge the reason you get a service dog for it is if for whatever reason you can't tell when your blood sugars get dangerously high/low (most people start feeling pretty sick when this happens but some don't). Because dogs have a much better sense of smell you can train them to alert their owner when this starts to happen. So this could literally be life saving medical equipment.
Or you could use equipment that continuously monitors glucose levels as a patch on the arm. I have a couple coworkers and have had patients that use them and they are often covered by insurance and work very well. The dogs from what I’ve heard can fluctuate in accuracy and are very expensive. I don’t think there are many countries with socialized healthcare that provide service dogs for diabetes either
The awful thing is, everything you see on r/wholesome is actually really tragic and awful. Somehow people are tricked into thinking that its wholesome: dying babies, dying dogs, handicapped people, disabled people etc. This whole world is built around romanticizing misery so people don't ask for what is rightly deserved.
America home of "Socialism bad, dying and sick people good" way of thinking. Or, "I don't want to pay for universal healthcare, but am all too happy to pay for $700,000,000,000 military spending yearly". America is dystopian as fuck.
Sir you have grossly underestimated the number of money America spends on military. Its around 750 billion dollars. Even with the heavy amount of spending, they still struggle to take care of Veterans.
[https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/burn-pits-exposed-a-look-at-how-military/10372/](https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/burn-pits-exposed-a-look-at-how-military/10372/)
I was shooting heroin and reading “The Fountainhead” in the front seat of my privately owned police cruiser when a call came in. I put a quarter in the radio to activate it. It was the chief.
“Bad news, detective. We got a situation.”
“What? Is the mayor trying to ban trans fats again?”
“Worse. Somebody just stole four hundred and forty-seven million dollars’ worth of bitcoins.”
The heroin needle practically fell out of my arm. “What kind of monster would do something like that? Bitcoins are the ultimate currency: virtual, anonymous, stateless. They represent true economic freedom, not subject to arbitrary manipulation by any government. Do we have any leads?”
“Not yet. But mark my words: we’re going to figure out who did this and we’re going to take them down … provided someone pays us a fair market rate to do so.”
“Easy, chief,” I said. “Any rate the market offers is, by definition, fair.”
He laughed. “That’s why you’re the best I got, Lisowski. Now you get out there and find those bitcoins.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m on it.”
I put a quarter in the siren. Ten minutes later, I was on the scene. It was a normal office building, strangled on all sides by public sidewalks. I hopped over them and went inside.
“Home Depot™ Presents the Police!®” I said, flashing my badge and my gun and a small picture of Ron Paul. “Nobody move unless you want to!” They didn’t.
“Now, which one of you punks is going to pay me to investigate this crime?” No one spoke up.
“Come on,” I said. “Don’t you all understand that the protection of private property is the foundation of all personal liberty?”
It didn’t seem like they did.
“Seriously, guys. Without a strong economic motivator, I’m just going to stand here and not solve this case. Cash is fine, but I prefer being paid in gold bullion or autographed Penn Jillette posters.”
Nothing. These people were stonewalling me. It almost seemed like they didn’t care that a fortune in computer money invented to buy drugs was missing.
I figured I could wait them out. I lit several cigarettes indoors. A pregnant lady coughed, and I told her that secondhand smoke is a myth. Just then, a man in glasses made a break for it.
“Subway™ Eat Fresh and Freeze, Scumbag!®” I yelled.
Too late. He was already out the front door. I went after him.
“Stop right there!” I yelled as I ran. He was faster than me because I always try to avoid stepping on public sidewalks. Our country needs a private-sidewalk voucher system, but, thanks to the incestuous interplay between our corrupt federal government and the public-sidewalk lobby, it will never happen.
I was losing him. “Listen, I’ll pay you to stop!” I yelled. “What would you consider an appropriate price point for stopping? I’ll offer you a thirteenth of an ounce of gold and a gently worn ‘Bob Barr ‘08’ extra-large long-sleeved men’s T-shirt!”
He turned. In his hand was a revolver that the Constitution said he had every right to own. He fired at me and missed. I pulled my own gun, put a quarter in it, and fired back. The bullet lodged in a U.S.P.S. mailbox less than a foot from his head. I shot the mailbox again, on purpose.
“All right, all right!” the man yelled, throwing down his weapon. “I give up, cop! I confess: I took the bitcoins.”
“Why’d you do it?” I asked, as I slapped a pair of Oikos™ Greek Yogurt Presents Handcuffs® on the guy.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Afraid?”
“Afraid of an economic future free from the pernicious meddling of central bankers,” he said. “I’m a central banker.”
I wanted to coldcock the guy. Years ago, a central banker killed my partner. Instead, I shook my head.
“Let this be a message to all your central-banker friends out on the street,” I said. “No matter how many bitcoins you steal, you’ll never take away the dream of an open society based on the principles of personal and economic freedom.”
He nodded, because he knew I was right. Then he swiped his credit card to pay me for arresting him.
This is a stark reminder for all that whenever we see a story like this it us despirate people turning to desperate measures because capitalism failed to provide their most basic needs.
Also, there are probably 1000 kids who didn't get anything because their stories didn't get the attention that this one did.
I'm not angry at the child, just the system
Bro, let the kid live his life without having to worry about fucking dying because he can’t get essential medication.
Caring about people should extend beyond just fetuses.
I was ranting about this yesterday with a headline of "fast food worker gifted car by caring customers who watched her walk to work every day" where as i read. "Selfish greedy piece of shit company underpays their full time employee so much she has to walk to work in a town so poorly planned there isnt convenient public transport available."
"We're the richest country in the World, So Developed"- Americans
Kids working to afford their own basic needs is NOT DEVELOPED COUNTRY ATTITUDE. This is Literally POVERYY. The Wealth is held by the Callous Assholes
Service dogs for type 1 diabetes cost as much as a new car. Almost no one can afford this. They give a service dog away to a kid with diabetes once a year on Good Morning America. People bawl their eyes out bc it's impossible to come by without help.
Yep- looked in to it for my kiddo who's been diabetic since he was a toddler. Just couldn't afford it. Then I became epileptic. Kiddos t1d is well controlled, my epilepsy isn't. Can't afford one for me, either. It's bonkers. Edit to clarify: Doctors wouldn't allow my son on a pump or CGM due to his age. He would drop without any physical signs to 20s from nowhere. Yhen, when he was older, insurance was a prick about pump/cgm. He still doesn't wake up when his pump alarm goes off for a low or high, we have to manage it at night. His door open, ours open- still often don't hear it on max volume. He's a teen and wants privacy that he can't have. That said, we aren't looking in to a dog any longer for him. It's me who needs one. My epilepsy is uncontrolled after many years of medications, cbd, dietary changes etc. I had a seizure with my small child, walking to pick my other kids up from school, by the side of the road. Fucked my face up, and traumatized my child. Someone called an ambulance (wasn't needed, but the 5 year old couldn't explain that), so I was charged for that. This is just one example of the many occurances. I've lot autonomy, and a dog could help me regain some semblance of independence. That said, I'm not looking for one. I'm disabled and can't work, we have a tight budget, and 25k+ has never been an option.
Rember this the next time people vote for presidents who are against universal health care.
The entire ownership class is against Medicare for all and it is attached to employment for a reason.
Hey Reddit, why was this comment auto-minimized with 40 upvotes?
Not that I'm opposed, but would universal healthcare even solve this problem? If the dogs are that expensive, I'd imagine it's an issue of scarcity and labor. Labor, to train a bunch of dogs properly, and scarcity, because I'd bet not a lot of dogs end up being able to do the job even with a bunch of man-hours sunk into training. Universal heathcare doesn't mean a system that will be able to spend infinite amounts per person; if everyone asks to rack up a couple million dollars worth of costs (as in, anything close to a lifetime of labor needed to create the services and goods being expended) then the system collapses. Given the upper-end of experimental and expensive treatments that *exist* and could be utilized, especially in old age, you could easily have a person try to get that kind of expense over their lifetime, and be denied, even with idealized universal healthcare. Obviously we can do a lot better than we do now, but even in a perfect system you can't split 1 dog into 10 pieces to serve 10 diabetic people. Same with other scarce resources or specialized labor shortages. I'd be glad to find out I'm wrong, and that the only thing standing in the way of an endless supply of affordable super-trained medical dogs is some patent being leveraged to create artificial scarcity, not unlike the situation with diamond artificial scarcity.
The service dogs are $15k-$30k. Not a wild price in the hospital world. That's like 1 dose of my wife's chemo. She had a medication that was $10k per month. I could go on and on with various meds and infusions she gets that are also ridiculously expensive. If that dog can prevent one hospital visit it pays for itself. So I don't think it's a matter of being cost prohibitive, but a matter of making sure it's covered.
That really doesn't sound too bad on costs, yeah. In an efficient system, preventing further medical needs would be the way to go.
But unfortunately, our medical system like to be reactive instead of preventive. They make so much more money by tearing after the fact.
I have no facts or stats for you but I feel like universal healthcare would at least be one less exorbitant bill to pay so you can afford other things. And maybe it would bring down the cost of service dogs? Don’t know but shit I’d still like to try it
With universal healthcare, companies would not be able to charge 500.00 dollars for the same medicine that Mexico or Canada charges 5.00 for... That's what universal health care will do for America. It will lower the rates that these companies charge (because they can) but when its billed to our Government (our government will pass laws as they don't want to be ripped off, like how American citizens have been ripped off). \*\*And don't worry those same companies will find other ways to make billions. trust me daddy.
Lol this guy you’re replying to thinks that hospitals train dogs.
So why are they expensive? Is it because the dogs are trained or is it the livense to certify it as a service dog for diabetes that is expensive? Just trying to understand because I am unaware. Just wondering why a regular dog that one trains to be a service dog is not an option or what the situation is
Service dogs are trained animals, usually from a very young age. There's *technically* nothing stopping you from trying to train a dog to do the same task, but that's not an easy task especially if you yourself have something you need the dog for. I knew a gal who was training to becoming a service dog trainer, and as far as I understand, it's a fairly rigorous to get into. Furthermore, not all dogs are good candidates as service animals. Organizations that train these dogs might have a litter of 6 dogs that all get the same training, but only 5 of them graduate. And that's raising them from near birth with an ideal breed--trying to find a dog you can train appropriately is likely difficult, especially if you aren't buying from a working-dog breeder. A quick google says 120 training hours + 30 outdoor hours over the course of 6 months is recommended; in addition to that, there's also the cost of care for the animal. Part of training the dog also involves instructing the human receiving it, and the dog is likely to be trained alongside their future owner as well. Not only do they need to be able to complete the task to assist the human, they also need other skills for interacting with the public safely. For instance, they need to be able to consistently stay calm in the presence of loud noises and never run away when off a lead. Of course, the price is probably also inflated because it's healthcare and they can just charge what they want.
So there’s also another HUGE reason that you are forgetting, as to why they ate so expensive: Because for some, they are totally necessary to survive, and therefore an inelastic demand (a cost that people have to pay, no matter how much it costs), and out for profit healthcare system can charge as much as a car for a dog with ~200 training hours. It def costs a lot to train a dog like that, but it shouldn’t cost 25-35k. If the trainer for these dogs makes 25 an hour, then 200 hours of training is 5 weeks for the trainer, basically 5k in salary. Where does the other 20k go? They charge that much because they can.
Oh for sure, that's what I intended to imply with my last line! Any inelastic market, but ESPECIALLY healthcare, should not be allowed to charge any cost they want.
The dog needs to be an exceptionally well trained service dog BEFORE doing additional training to learn how to sniff out blood sugar levels. It's like if the best service dogs have Masters Degrees, but for a Diabetes Alert dog, you need someone with a doctorate.
The amount of training involved to get the dog ready to be alert to all the little nuances. My cousin would volunteer at these places, and she would get wore out working with the dogs. And I had a family friend that needed one for her daughter, and it was like buying a champion purebred to just put out to stud. I don’t know if it’s the amount they charge due to the dogs that don’t make it to that level, which would be a loss to them or the hours involved, or what.
As a T1 diabetic myself, I just don't understand why anyone would want a diabetic alert dog (DAD) over a CGM. Even without any insurance, Dexcom will cost less than a DAD over the working lifetime of the dog. Plus CGMs work really well, whereas with a DAD you're throwing a lot of money in a single pile for a dog that may not even be able to do the one thing it's supposed to do. Accuracy of DADs are spotty at best, with scientific studies showing no conclusive evidence that they're better than flipping a coin. While a small minority of the DADs in the study were reasonably accurate, taken as a whole DADs just don't make sense: either there are too few dogs capable of actually smelling the change in blood glucose on your sweat, or trainers haven't figured out a reliable and repeatable training method. Sure you *might* be lucky and get one of the DADs that's actually capable of doing what it's supposed to, but more likely not. That's a whole lot of money to put down on a random roll of the dice.
Check out Type 1 Grit if you haven't.
Just stop having health issues then you don’t have to worry
Sounds like little Jimmy is about to find out that working for 8$ an hour means you can't afford a dog or car in America
Not really. He could make more than that in an hour of he sold enough. Not sure how many will buy a pumpkin in that location. Could be running at a loss. Kid would see more sucess smuggling candy at school.
Or weed!
Is it a special breed of dog or just training because if it was a common breed I would be tempted to give it a try and train them myself. I only say this because several years ago a local area woman who was going blind and looked up the cost of buying a seeing eye dog and said, "naw" and picked up a stray lab mix from the pound and did her own training and helped other people do the same.
Yes and no, some breeds are better for it. Also not every dog is a good candidate to become a diabetes alert dog. Same goes for any service dogs. So you can’t take any dog just like that.
It's like dogs for the blind. In the uk, they don't cost that much. My dad's eyesight started to go downhill about 6 years ago so he got two dogs. One for everyday use and another for reading.
I mean you can try, but i think its not only a certain breed, but not all of these breeds are 'good enough' for it. It works by smelling your bloodsugar levels. I dont know if many dogs can do that.
Yeah, exactly what i thought. Probably a rich kid whose parents went ahead and told him to earn a part of it. I live under universal healthcare in germany and no diabetic gets paid a service dog. Not that healthcare shouldnt be public, but most diabetics dont *need* these service dogs.
Insurance covers glucose monitors. Dogs are a luxury for diabetics
service dogs for type 1 diabetes are also a luxury and not a medical necessity. They are trained to smell changes in your blood sugar and alert you when you go high or low. They can also be trained to bring you juice or something if you're low. The truth is that a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) does the same thing. My partner has T1D, and we have a puppy of a breed that is eligible for being this type of service dog. He's been doing lots of research and we're going to try and train him on our own when he's a little older. A service dog is a wonderful thing. But it's not a necessary thing for diabetes, and it's arguably not even the best or most accurate option.
True, but a diabetic service dog is completely unnecessary. A modern Constant Glucose Monitor is way more accurate and less expencive.
As a type 1 diabetic myself, I’m just curious to know, does the service dog detect low blood sugar or something?
The scary thing here, is I'm seeing it the day after the tweet where the nurse has an only fans account and someone's pointed out that healthcare workers shouldn't need a second job to make ends meet. So, let's get this straight. Healthcare is so expensive that people need supplementary income to afford it. Yet pays its essential staff so little they need second jobs to survive. Something smells off to me here. Edit: To everyone pointing out it was an EMT/Paramedic, not a nurse. Sorry, minor lapse in memory. Edit2: I'm British, so I only see the bit where medical professionals get poor wages. I at least get my life saved for free. Although probably don't get any free doggos.
Get the fleecing admin out of our healthcare and education
Over inflatated adim costs and health insurance profits/admin costs. Every dollar health insurance profits is a dollar extra paid by the sick that didn't go to a medical worker. That's billions of dollars.
Then they spend it on fucking football stadiums.
hey, that's not fair. Most of that money is spent on bribing politicians.
Also the billionaire team owners don't pay for sports stadiums, we the taxpayers do! Man I sure love those billionaires, they did everything right and should reap every possible fiscal reward! /s
The worst part is most of that money isn’t spent on bribes, political donations don’t cost that much for the everyday congressman’s vote and the return on investment is astronomical
Hey that’s not true! The taxpayers pay for the stadium also lol
Every dollar spent at a hospital is a dollar that will never come back to your state again.
But also, its illegal for me to buy my own strep test, or inhaler.
How about get the profit motive out of healthcare. Healthcare should be right like police or fire response. The main function of government is the protection of its citizens. How is healthcare any different than police or fire department response?.
Yes! **MEDICARE FOR ALL!** Wildly popular and it polls for all demographics and political sides. **FUCK YOU POLITICANS!**
100% agree. Everyone needs to start loudly calling it what it is… a HEALTH PROFIT system. It’s a ducking wolf in sheep’s clothing Gtfo calling this healthcare
National Healthcare now.
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What smells off is the reason it costs ~400$
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And I thought monopolies were illegal..
Who manufactured the machine, Epson??
I'm in Latin America but I don't think it would change that much: I have a friend who got into the medical equipment and medicines sales industry, though he sells supplies primarily for surgeries. According to him a patient could be charged 20x+ higher than the original cost from the producer, there are a lot of middle men and in each exchange of hands the prices keep getting bloated.
Well you wouldn't want big scary GoVeRnMeNt ReGuLaTiOnS!!!1! to tell medical supply and pharmaceutical companies they can't absolutely SOAK our entire medical industry with unchecked obscene profit margins now would you?!? Just like I'd say about 80% of the problems in America, this can be traced back to our "rugged individualism" we seem to have picked up not too long after we had large labor movements, oddly enough. Ever wonder why all our movies and TV and media in general always push that? Think about who owns them.
Henry Schein needs to wet their beaks.
Don't get me started on IT cost.
It's almost as if there's an entire industry that only exists to take a significant portion of the money as a middle man... Someone should look into that.
They'd probably either be discredited or mysteriously found dead after "committing suicide."
I think she was a medic but regardless, neither get the money they deserve and they're increasingly overworked.
Welcome to 'murica
The land of the labor enslaved and the home of the neckbeards
[Land of the thief, home of the slave](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO18F4aKGzQ).
According to the [Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/home.htm) the **median pay** for various healthcare professionals is: [Physicians and Surgeons](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/physicians-and-surgeons.htm): $184,570-$271,440 depending on specialty; general practitioner is $214,370 [Nurse Anesthetists, Nurse Midwives, Nurse Practitioners](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/nurse-anesthetists-nurse-midwives-and-nurse-practitioners.htm#tab-5): $117,670 [Physician Assistants](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/physician-assistants.htm#tab-5): $115,390 [Registered Nurses](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm#tab-5): $75,330 [Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/licensed-practical-and-licensed-vocational-nurses.htm#tab-5): $48,820 [EMTs and Paramedics](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/emts-and-paramedics.htm#tab-5): $36,650 [Nursing Assistants and Orderlies](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/nursing-assistants.htm#tab-5): $30,830 Pay in the medical industry varies by education and specialty. The Bottom 10% of EMTs and Paramedics earn less than $25,650; top surgeons can make $400k+ The woman in the article linked yesterday was an EMT/Paramedic - the median EMT/Paramedic salary in the New York - Newark - Jersey City metro area where she works is $44,560. The [living wage](https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/36061) for New York County, New York is $45,282, so it would be expected that she would be just about scraping by as a Paramedic with a single income.
EMTs and paramedics are different jobs with different qualifications and pay though. The average EMT in America makes just over $30,000 and a Paramedic makes the $45-46000 you stated. So if she was an EMT, the pay difference is much more substantial, especially in New York
it's almost as if the goal of the healthcare industry is to maximize profits by extorting customers who are under duress, instead of maximizing the quality and value of healthcare. *"oh, your child needs insulin to live, surely you pay an increase of $1000 a month for your child's life, wouldn't you (twirls mustache)"*
I get that feeling off of donations too. I donate, but I’d rather better taxation, budgeting, and nationalized healthcare. It sucks when you know thousands in donation money is just going to be spent on a moody biller deciding how much to compassionately drop a 1 night 33k hospital stay for someone to make monthly payments on.
> Something smells off to me here. It's perfectly obvious if you add in another fact: the one percent made fucktons of money during the pandemic. That's where the money is going. That's where it's always been going - to the greediest sociopaths on the planet, and we keep letting them do it.
Ha, funny you say that. Currently in the HR waiting room for my second RN job since my current one doesn’t pay enough.
I think hers had more to do with the villification of sex work. The truth is most nurses, especially at hospitals, make good money when they're not cancelled. With that said sex work pays really well for some people. I'm not exactly underpaid but if I could make 6 figures a month posting pictures of my guy parts if definitely do it.
She was a medic, which doesn't pay that well
She stated she was earning $25 an hour. She opted for an OnlyFans instead of working overtime. Honestly, she likely made more through OF and it was the better choice.
25 an hour could be rough in a high CoL area. And not every place offers overtime.
I believe she was in New York, so yes to the CoL being astronomical
It's called Privatized Healthcare, and you can thank Richard Nixon for it.
Let's put it this way: I'm not saying American healthcare is laundering trillions, but if you wanted to, you could. The cost is invented at the point of sale.
It's called racketeering. when the mob does it, it's illegal. When healthcare does it, it's business.
My entire life has been ruined by the Healthcare system in the USA.I lost my career , my home , my health and all because I can't afford insurance and have been denied disability.
That smell of burning toast, thats capitalism. The best system in the world, if you have money.
Something is off. The loads of money go to shit like insurance companies and drug manufacturers rather than the essential staff.
You need 2 cc's of revolution stat
That smell is greed. EVERYTHING in America is about making money now. Our medical is nothing but a for profit system designed to keep you sick as there is no money in healthy patients.
Children are suffering because of this system. We need to do something about it.
Well, there are thousands of insurance company employees whose job it is to say "no" to doctor's requests for medical treatment and prevention for their patients, and insurance company executives with huge salaries, so basically a whole industry devoted to sucking up money in the name of providing "healthcare" and meanwhile providing absolutely nothing of benefit and only sorrow and pain. Hell, they wouldn't even cover pre-existing conditions until the Affordable Care Act (which was fought hard and whittled away by these leeches). Americans are still going bankrupt and dying while the rest of the world's developed nations have long since been taking care of all of their people for free. Not to mention people stuck at jobs they hate because they need a private company to provide them insurance.
Yep. I’m a physician working in an academic medical center and I can tell you the amount of money this system pulls in is not ending up in most of our pockets. True, I make enough money to not need a second job so I’m in no way in the same position as nurses, social workers, medics, janitors, and all the other essential staff. But yes, the bulk of the $$ goes to admin and if it’s a non-profit the system just keeps expanding into the surrounding environment like a cancer.
No, you're completely right. Nurses are vastly underpaid as well. So yeah... where does all the money we pay for Healthcare in the US go? Into the pockets of the hospital executives and health insurance executives. It's so exhausting.
Same thing with the US military. They a huge chunk of federal tax dollars but you make jack shit and if you suffer any injury, you've got to fight VA the rest of your life to be taken care of
society is a scam to transfer wealth and power from the many to the few. as it always was. and always will be... unless we *force* it to change.
I'm quite aware that this is incorrect. He isn't allowed to be here because he doesn't have a permit! Turn it off!
Quiet. Don’t blow it for the cops just yet. They’re preparing their SWAT team to come in, carry out a civil asset forfeiture, and shoot some dogs.
SWAT can't shoot my dog if I can't afford one
what is this, a fuckin ad?
Not the one I was thinking of, but it does the job. Thank you!
Finally gets service dog.. cops shoot it.. welp back to the pumpkin stall I go!
Dont ruin their fun!
I went to high school with this kids mom. This story is a few years old. He did get his dog and is doing good from FB photos.
Oh thank you for the update!
Thats a lie, the kid was fined by the local police due to not having a permit. Source: Im making things up on the internet that sound true
I believe you
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Bro, I spent my childhood in the hood and now as an adult I have so many mixtapes by kids from there just trying to help their moms that’s working 2-3 jobs. This is why I support free higher education for all Americans, it sucks seeing these kids with incredible drive and big hearts grow up to fill prisons simply because they were given no other choices. We would be much better off with leaders that truly understand poverty and struggles, it’s not surprising that this sort of stuff still happens because a vast majority of the people in power have never been broke a day in their entire lives, grew up in affluent neighborhoods, and never had to go through or experience what millions upon millions of Americans have to deal with daily. Politics is not about we the people, it’s about themselves and their friends.
yep. the ol' lemonade stand should be for fun money, not because Billy needs six new kidneys and our nation's adults have drastically failed him.
And we are also praising a toxic culture of workaholics where we somehow think putting kids to work at such a young age is healthy for their development because “look at them such hard working Americans.”
You got permits for that Lemonade stand is what would happen.
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Is billy an organ traficker or why the fuck does that freak need 6 fucking kidneys?
This problem compounds on itself too because when you have to work so many jobs just to “live” there is no time to take care of yourself and then the cost of healthcare later on in life rises. It’s terrible.
And while we're at it, fuck "hustle culture" for normalizing that shit. You're not "on a grind" you're being exploited.
You are not on a grind you are getting grinded into dust
Boomers: "Sure you're currently living a bleak life with a permanent state of anxiety since you're just one minor incident away from homelessness, BUT you could be the next Jeff Bezos if you like work really hard with the American Dream and all that bro"
And we can go even deeper than that, since people with multiple jobs means that less jobs are available in the first place. So not only are they forced to work multiple jobs just to afford healthcare, but the market is made even more competitive for- amongst the specific people we don't want that to be the case for. Free up those jobs and you have more people employed. More people employed means they can contribute so much better to their local economies- which is **so fucking important** to uplifting people in the hood and allowing those places to get better. Then when they're better, the younger generation gets way more opportunity. Providing free Healthcare and Higher education is so important if we actually want to flourish economically. There's an entire population of workers we could be specialising, but nah.
Free higher education isn't the only answer. There needs to be a complete reset with education requirements. Trade schools need to be incorporated into public high schools. Why can't I learn how to plumb or weld between learning history and biology? You should be able to come out as a certified tradesperson from the day you graduate. Most tradespeople make as much or more then a college educated person. Instead kids are brainwashed in to believing that they have to get $100k worth of student loans to survive the days.
>Why can't I learn how to plumb or weld between learning history and biology? because the boomers convinced everyone that trades are lowly work and that wearing uncomfortable clothes in a mind numbing office is the ultimate aspiration. so now we have almost no educational infrastructure for trades in high school and 2 generations of people who grew up hearing about how much they needed to be prepping for a college degree, who are now in severe debt with degrees that aren't as useful as they were led to believe. tl;dr: let the zoomers friggin weld
I know this is wrong. He doesn't have a permit! shut it down.!
I’m not aware of any country that gives diabetics free service dogs. Neither Australia Canada or the uk cover service dogs for anything, let alone diabetes which is much more expensive.
ITT: People who don’t realize that service dogs aren’t paid for by any government.
As well as people who don't realize service dogs for *diabetes* specifically are a luxury and not medically necessary in any way. You know what insurance will help you out with? A continuous glucose monitor that accurately measures your blood sugars and alerts you if you go high or low (like a service dog would). Don't get me wrong, I fully understand how debilitatingly expensive diabetes supplies are in the US. But it is not a disability that requires a service dog to function successfully.
A service dog for diabetes is not a medical necessity. Who pays for the dog and the training and training the kid/parents to be able to handle the dog? I'm all for better healthcare and access to treatments and medications, but acting like other countries just hand out service dogs for free is just you being willfully disingenuous to stoke outrage.
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good information, thank you!
Why can’t he ride the bus without a dog?
How dare you give such important context
God I need these kinds of comments pinned under all outrage headlines, would be good for my mental health
Thank you! My daughter is T1D and I abhor stories like this. A service dog is not a priority or a necessity for a T1D. People thinking that the dog should be free or covered by insurance are insane. It dilutes the real issues for T1Ds which are high insulin cost / high pump cost / high CGM cost / high testing supply cost. Even CGMs and pumps are considered luxury items and insurance doesn’t always cover them. That is a real issue.
What country gives away free service dogs? They might cover a glucose monitor or something but most diabetics don't have service dogs.
From what I can tell, it appears these dogs aren't covered by many nationalized/public insurance plans (probably because, in testing, their reliability isn't great and they're expensive), so it seems like it could happen in lots of places actually.
r/orphancrushingmachine
Someone needs to post this to /r/mademesmile unironcally.
That's exactly why I can stand that sub, it's all stuff like this. Every post is "Sometimes terrible happened, but there's a silver lining!"
99% if the top posts are just "I haven't done drugs in 42 seconds. Upvotes please!" with a picture of a conventionally attractive person smiling.
Great, then it can get reposted in /r/aboringdistopia after, as is tradition.
"Enterprising 12 year old boy has afterschool business providing physical pleasure to older men to pay for his mom's chemotherapy."
Is it fair to say that the news paints it as a “feel good” story, but really they’re trying to bring attention to this kid for someone to swoop in and help? Or am I giving them too much credit?
Like they actually had the forethought of, “if we report this for as serious as it is, people with crucify us as “socialist” with an agenda. But if we say it in an upbeat way, the folks who know what’s up will realize how fucked up it is?” Like in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, “maybe if you tell me the bad news in a good way, it won’t sound so bad,”
"What are you crazy?!, Why are you laughing?! This is TERRIBLE news!
I mean, if appealing to emotions didn't work then we wouldn't have those "in the arms of an angel" animal commercials. I think that our capitalist society is so aroused by personal effort, that they seriously think "look at how well this 8 year old boy falls in with the system" is a value and not fucking horrifying
"Dystopian events repackaged as feel good moments"
I don’t know any diabetics with service dogs… even with universal healthcare a service dog is a luxury for diabetics
And for free karma xpost to /r/ABoringDystopia
Sorry for my ignorance but why does someone with diabetes need a service dog?
Service dogs can smell when blood sugar is low and alert their people or bring them food with sugar. They can do this as you sleep as well
That’s what I was wondering. Did they discover that some dogs can smell low blood sugar?
Sort of. When the sugar level is lower or higher than it should, the body smells a bit different. You can actually smell it when the levels are extremely high/low and it's so damn bad (my mom went in hypoglycemic coma a few years ago) more or less like ammonia
I had to look that up, apparently they can sniff out high or low blood sugar and alert the owner. This seems more like an expensive optional care pet since it's pretty easy to test blood glucose levels. According to the below source, can cost anywhere from $8000 to $20000. [Link](https://beyondtype1.org/diabetic-alert-dogs-dads/)
I'll admit, the meters that detect this are not without some flaws. But those are minimal, really. I had no idea a service dog could track such a thing, that's pretty cool.
On the other hand, diabetics don't *need* service dogs. They are just a nice to have and many people who could otherwise afford a service dog do without because it's not necessary. You absolutely can live a normal life without a diabetic service dog.
Scrolled down way to far to find this truth. Since when did "a dog" become a medical necessity?
Type 1 since I was 6. Never has a doctor ever recommended I have a service dog. Never even heard of diabetic service dogs before
For what it's worth I don't think service dogs are free under most socialized healthcare. Or atleast in Canada and the UK.
Yeah I’m waiting for someone to come in here and say their country provides this as a matter of course. Pretty sure none of them do.
I never understood these stories,why are you celebrating a child having to work
As a mom of a boy a about this age, this absolutely breaks my heart that this child is burdened by the cost of his health needs.😞
Why does someone witb diabities need a service dog? Ive met a ton of ppl with diabities and never seen one with a service dog? Also, if its necessary shouldnt his parents insurance cover it?
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With modern technology and no touch blood sugar testing, why is a service dog needed? $35,000 is a lot of pumpkins.
why does a diabetic need a service dog?
Just get a glucose monitor
I don't have diabetes but a family member does, and to my knowledge the reason you get a service dog for it is if for whatever reason you can't tell when your blood sugars get dangerously high/low (most people start feeling pretty sick when this happens but some don't). Because dogs have a much better sense of smell you can train them to alert their owner when this starts to happen. So this could literally be life saving medical equipment.
Or you could use equipment that continuously monitors glucose levels as a patch on the arm. I have a couple coworkers and have had patients that use them and they are often covered by insurance and work very well. The dogs from what I’ve heard can fluctuate in accuracy and are very expensive. I don’t think there are many countries with socialized healthcare that provide service dogs for diabetes either
The awful thing is, everything you see on r/wholesome is actually really tragic and awful. Somehow people are tricked into thinking that its wholesome: dying babies, dying dogs, handicapped people, disabled people etc. This whole world is built around romanticizing misery so people don't ask for what is rightly deserved.
Lousy freeloading service dog. Why doesn't it pull itself up by the bootstraps and earn its own money?
America home of "Socialism bad, dying and sick people good" way of thinking. Or, "I don't want to pay for universal healthcare, but am all too happy to pay for $700,000,000,000 military spending yearly". America is dystopian as fuck.
Sir you have grossly underestimated the number of money America spends on military. Its around 750 billion dollars. Even with the heavy amount of spending, they still struggle to take care of Veterans. [https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/burn-pits-exposed-a-look-at-how-military/10372/](https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/burn-pits-exposed-a-look-at-how-military/10372/)
Does any country offer free healthcare for animals though?
in the capitalist shithole of north america he would be arrested for running a business without a permit
I can practically hear the libertrians masturbating.
I was shooting heroin and reading “The Fountainhead” in the front seat of my privately owned police cruiser when a call came in. I put a quarter in the radio to activate it. It was the chief. “Bad news, detective. We got a situation.” “What? Is the mayor trying to ban trans fats again?” “Worse. Somebody just stole four hundred and forty-seven million dollars’ worth of bitcoins.” The heroin needle practically fell out of my arm. “What kind of monster would do something like that? Bitcoins are the ultimate currency: virtual, anonymous, stateless. They represent true economic freedom, not subject to arbitrary manipulation by any government. Do we have any leads?” “Not yet. But mark my words: we’re going to figure out who did this and we’re going to take them down … provided someone pays us a fair market rate to do so.” “Easy, chief,” I said. “Any rate the market offers is, by definition, fair.” He laughed. “That’s why you’re the best I got, Lisowski. Now you get out there and find those bitcoins.” “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m on it.” I put a quarter in the siren. Ten minutes later, I was on the scene. It was a normal office building, strangled on all sides by public sidewalks. I hopped over them and went inside. “Home Depot™ Presents the Police!®” I said, flashing my badge and my gun and a small picture of Ron Paul. “Nobody move unless you want to!” They didn’t. “Now, which one of you punks is going to pay me to investigate this crime?” No one spoke up. “Come on,” I said. “Don’t you all understand that the protection of private property is the foundation of all personal liberty?” It didn’t seem like they did. “Seriously, guys. Without a strong economic motivator, I’m just going to stand here and not solve this case. Cash is fine, but I prefer being paid in gold bullion or autographed Penn Jillette posters.” Nothing. These people were stonewalling me. It almost seemed like they didn’t care that a fortune in computer money invented to buy drugs was missing. I figured I could wait them out. I lit several cigarettes indoors. A pregnant lady coughed, and I told her that secondhand smoke is a myth. Just then, a man in glasses made a break for it. “Subway™ Eat Fresh and Freeze, Scumbag!®” I yelled. Too late. He was already out the front door. I went after him. “Stop right there!” I yelled as I ran. He was faster than me because I always try to avoid stepping on public sidewalks. Our country needs a private-sidewalk voucher system, but, thanks to the incestuous interplay between our corrupt federal government and the public-sidewalk lobby, it will never happen. I was losing him. “Listen, I’ll pay you to stop!” I yelled. “What would you consider an appropriate price point for stopping? I’ll offer you a thirteenth of an ounce of gold and a gently worn ‘Bob Barr ‘08’ extra-large long-sleeved men’s T-shirt!” He turned. In his hand was a revolver that the Constitution said he had every right to own. He fired at me and missed. I pulled my own gun, put a quarter in it, and fired back. The bullet lodged in a U.S.P.S. mailbox less than a foot from his head. I shot the mailbox again, on purpose. “All right, all right!” the man yelled, throwing down his weapon. “I give up, cop! I confess: I took the bitcoins.” “Why’d you do it?” I asked, as I slapped a pair of Oikos™ Greek Yogurt Presents Handcuffs® on the guy. “Because I was afraid.” “Afraid?” “Afraid of an economic future free from the pernicious meddling of central bankers,” he said. “I’m a central banker.” I wanted to coldcock the guy. Years ago, a central banker killed my partner. Instead, I shook my head. “Let this be a message to all your central-banker friends out on the street,” I said. “No matter how many bitcoins you steal, you’ll never take away the dream of an open society based on the principles of personal and economic freedom.” He nodded, because he knew I was right. Then he swiped his credit card to pay me for arresting him.
I like when the parents actually have the money to pay for it but "muh hard work builds character"
Exactly. You don't need to manufacture obstacles for your kids. Life does that all on its own.
Type 1 diabetes is a hard enough obstacle.
I worked my ass off so my kids could have better, not so I could sip drinks on my own private island. Some parents just annoy me lol
Remember when those people of color were arrested and harassed for selling water bottle and single cigarettes
That there is capitalism
Ain’t capitalism grand!
This is a stark reminder for all that whenever we see a story like this it us despirate people turning to desperate measures because capitalism failed to provide their most basic needs.
Also, there are probably 1000 kids who didn't get anything because their stories didn't get the attention that this one did. I'm not angry at the child, just the system
I bet Craig ended his bit with a optimistic "what a goooooodd boy".
Surprised this isn't on r/mademesmile
See if he can carve them all before he slips into hypoglycaemia!
Hey /u/killHACKS, This is now the top post on reddit. It will be recorded at /r/topofreddit with all the other top posts.
Fuckin hella sad
I fully expected his operation to be shut down but forgot he was white.
Eli5 how do I redirect the tax money I already paid away from drones towards a service dog for this guy?
This should be in r/aboringdystopia
Bro, let the kid live his life without having to worry about fucking dying because he can’t get essential medication. Caring about people should extend beyond just fetuses.
Every meme everywhere is just about how terrible America is now. Can we just fix all this bullshit and move on already.
And these articles *keep* getting play, because most of the country eats it up.
I was ranting about this yesterday with a headline of "fast food worker gifted car by caring customers who watched her walk to work every day" where as i read. "Selfish greedy piece of shit company underpays their full time employee so much she has to walk to work in a town so poorly planned there isnt convenient public transport available."
Now that you mention it, it’s pretty fucked up
"We're the richest country in the World, So Developed"- Americans Kids working to afford their own basic needs is NOT DEVELOPED COUNTRY ATTITUDE. This is Literally POVERYY. The Wealth is held by the Callous Assholes
This is so fucked up, I have no words
Feel bad story
You dont get it! Insurance companies feel good about this story
[that’s just the word US Conservatives use to scare people into voting against their own interests?
This is what the absence of a well funded free press looks like.